Child rights action with informed and engaged societies

After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. 

Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future. 

On the transfer, co-founder Victoria Martin expressed her pleasure to see this work continue under Wits' leadership, knowing that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction. 

As Wits, we honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades and look forward building from that strong base. This includes co-founders Warren Feek (1953-2024) and Victoria Martin as well as La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA), which continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com with links to The CI Global site. We are also eager to forge new partnerships and entertain new ideas as we consider how best to contribute to social and behaviour change in our rapidly evolving environment.

If you are joining the International Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Summit in Panama, please join Wits and CILA on Monday, 22 June, to share your thoughts and suggestion for the relaunch of the Communication Initiative. We will be in Pacifica 5 from 12-1:25 for the Refuel, Reflect, and Renew Lunch Series: The Communication Initiative: celebrating a driving force for Communication for Social Change and the way forward. We will reflect on the legacy of Warren Feek and family in creating the Communication Initiative, consider the contributions of CI over the years and then turn our attention towards the future in this dynamic session. 

If you are unable to join us in Panama, we still want to hear from you. Please contribute your thoughts by following this link: https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026 or reaching out to ci_surveys@commint.com

You can also follow the QR Code:

 https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026

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Cultural translation: Acceptability and efficacy of a US-based injury prevention intervention in China

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Erkoboni, D., J. Ozanne-Smith, et al. (2010). "Cultural translation: Acceptability and efficacy of a US-based injury prevention intervention in China." Injury Prevention 16(5): 296-301.

Background: Increased belt-positioning booster seat (BPB) awareness and access have led to increased use in the USA. Although transportation in Beijing is rapidly becoming 'motorised', Beijing's population has limited awareness of or access to BPBs.

Objective: To explore the efficacy and acceptability of using a US-developed BPB use promotion intervention in Beijing.

Design: Methods were adapted from a previously executed US-based study involving parents of 38-year old children. Focus groups (five groups, 71 participants) elicited behavioural antecedents to BPB use and reactions to video interventions promoting BPB use: a Chinese-produced instructional video and an English-language (dubbed into Mandarin) video that delivered concrete, theoretically driven messages through a personal story. Immediately after the focus groups, participants were provided with education and a free BPB. Participants were contacted 6 weeks later via telephone about use, knowledge and attitudes.

Results: Chinese parents saw safety as the most important benefit of BPB use; lack of accurate knowledge about and access to BPBs were parents' most prevalent barriers. Chinese participants described the videos as persuasive and instructional. At 6 weeks, participants remembered the messages of the English-language video, and reported BPB use increased from a baseline of 15.5% to 85.5%.

Conclusions: This study shows the possibility of exporting US-designed prevention interventions dubbed into Mandarin without the need to alter their original context (in this case, an African American family in a US setting) into a Chinese context. Successful cultural translation involved ensuring that the behavioural antecedents targeted in the intervention (eg, barriers and benefits) were of relevance to the Chinese population.